What an amazing thing to stumble across in the middle of the night. I found it on Twitter, so why am I surprised? This video of blooming flowers set to music is breathtaking. An artistic flower lover’s dream, it perfectly displays the intricate, delicate beauty we sometimes take for granted. We are moved from unfolding flowers to the New York City skyline to the stars. A spellbinding treat for often jaded minds….and hearts…and, yes, even souls.

Every time I think I will never see a more beautiful piece of art glass, I am surprised by a vision of color, design, and artistic grace.

My love of Italian Glass, gorgeous objects, and of course all things purple led to this vase coming home with me as a gift to myself. It was a bit pricier than my usual finds, but it was on sale and irresistible. I would probably have bought it anyway, because it’s such a life enhancer to own things that make us happy every time we look at them.

This may be a common sight to those who have frequent ice storms, but I’d never seen anything like it before and was enchanted. As I walked from the car toward the post office, I was preoccupied with the hope I could get packages mailed in time for Christmas. Then I glanced down and saw what looked like wet footprints on the sidewalk. It took a couple of seconds for my brain to register the fact that the footprints were actually leaf prints.

I have no clue how these images were formed. Just that it has something to do with fallen leaves and the ice storm/wintry mix that hit overnight this past weekend.

They remind me of fossils left behind in rocks by time. Some, like the one above, look posed. A sort of flat, delicately detailed still life set in place by nature. It almost looks like a semi-abstract watercolor.

Others are more bold.

Statement pieces. Single subject studies.

This one’s images are placed like a delicate pattern for fabric. Like a batik, laid out and fashioned by artistic icy fingers.

Does anyone know how a combination of freezing rain and fallen leaves can etch such amazing and beautiful images on a sidewalk? I’d love to know. It was quite a treat to discover such an example of nature’s art in the aftermath of a winter storm.

This gorgeous video is titled Memories of Paintings. It was created by Thomas Blanchard. I have to say after watching it that he is a very talented and visionary artist. Perhaps unique. I don’t know, because I’ve never seen anything like it before and have no idea how unusual it may be. What I do know is that it is the most innovative, beautiful, and graceful use of paint imaginable. The swoop and swirl, blending, remixing, and changing of colors all set to lovely music make up a visual experience I know I won’t be satisfied to see just once. Amazing art.

This fascinating piece about Salvador Dali’s rare illustrations for Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland grabbed my attention in a fast moving blip, passing through my Twitter stream. Something about the combination of colors and oddly placed lines drew my eyes closer and closer, until I saw enough to make me want to read the article.

I actually first read Alice and Through the Looking Glass as an adult, though I was almost as familiar with many scenes and characters as if I had read them long before, from quotes peppered throughout some books by a favorite old school novelist who was often lumped into the massive genre called romance. Her name was Emilie Loring, and she wrote novels spanning a large swath of the 20th Century. Though they all embodied sweeping romance, I would term them dramas, for their cinematic qualities that made reading them akin to watching the fine old black and white movie masterpieces from the Golden Age of Hollywood. She was fond of scattering quotes from classic literature throughout her prose, which I suspect were the root of my becoming a Dickens fan and wanting to read Carroll as a grownup. I went down the rabbit hole and through Alice’s looking glass looking for the source of the quotes, which enhanced my enjoyment of the books even more.

Dali is not really my cup of Mad Hatter poured tea. My only real knowledge of his work has been his Melting Clocks, which is a bit like wondering if the Mad Hatter was pouring time pieces, as well as tea, on some occasions. I’ve been of the vague opinion that Dali’s paintings are so far into surrealism that my brain can’t quite catch up.

That still holds for these illustrations, though their softer smudgy colors and Alice subject matter render them just over the edge into the realm of charming. Somewhat. I find them confounding, as well as intriguing, as I try to match them to the familiar stories they depict. Dali and Dodgson seem an odd combination at first, but, on further thought, they just may be a match made in the places where surrealism and Wonderland meet.

If you’re interested in art, the Guggenheim has made a staggering number of digitized images available. I’ve book marked this article, for info on that and a number of links at the bottom of the article to look at over time. Though my internet access has improved greatly, I’m afraid it will still only handle this much image overload in bits. Seems like a great thing just to know is there, though